Alex Dixon (born April 23, 1975) is an American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
musician, songwriter, producer, label owner and industry executive who is the grandson of
Willie Dixon
William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...
, one of the most important figures in the history of American music.
Early life
Born in Chicago, Alex was raised by his grandfather and grandmother Marie in the family's
South Side home, which was the epicenter of the city's blues community from the 1950s through the early 1980s. Alex started playing piano at age six, taking lessons from several of the most important keyboard players of the era, including
Leonard Caston
Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston (June 2, 1917 – August 22, 1987) was an American blues pianist and guitarist. He is best noted for the tracks "Blues at Midnight" and "I'm Gonna Walk Your Log".
Life and career
Leonard Caston Sr. was born in S ...
, Willie's former partner in the
Big Three Trio;
Lafayette Leake
Lafayette Leake (June 1, 1919 – August 14, 1990) was an American blues and jazz pianist, organist, vocalist and composer who played for Chess Records as a session musician, and as a member of the Big Three Trio, during the formative years of Chic ...
, a longtime member of the
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...
Band;
Little Brother Montgomery
Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery (April 18, 1906 – September 6, 1985) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer.
Largely self-taught, Montgomery was an important blues pianist with an original style. He was a ...
, a self-taught innovator whose career began in the 1920s; and his uncle, Arthur "Butch" Dixon, who toured for years with Willie as a member of his Chicago Blues All-Stars.
At age seven, Alex began performing with his grandfather at schools across the South Side of Chicago in an effort to bring the music to a new, younger audience. Alex played in several different styles as Willie introduced the youngsters to the blues and its history through spoken word and song. Their efforts laid the groundwork for what has become the Blues In The Schools program, an effort that now spans the globe.
When Willie and Marie relocated to the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
area in 1984, their grandson moved with them. When he was age 11, Willie began indoctrinating him in the family business and continuing to indoctrinate children to the music by appearing with him at local schools, work that later resulted in Alex becoming a member of his touring band for club and festival bookings.
Alex shares songwriting credit with his grandfather on 40 tunes, including "Study War No More," which appeared on Dixon's final album, the
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
-winning ''
Hidden Charms.''
Professional life
After Willie's death, Alex served as a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department for seven years and graduated from
Aspen University
Aspen University is a United States-based private, for-profit, nationally accredited online university that was established in 1987. Aspen University offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing, education, computer science, technolog ...
in 2009 with a degree in criminal justice/law enforcement administration. He retired from the force to resume a career in music, after an off-duty incident involving an ex-convict gang member, who shot at him two or three times without hitting his mark, and who was subsequently convicted of first-degree murder in the death of a former roommate.
A past vice president of Blues Heaven Foundation, the non-profit organization Willie initiated in 1984, Alex supervised efforts to promote the music and award scholarships to younger musicians, delivering emergency assistance to older artists experiencing life crises and working in their behalf to recoup royalties for their recorded and published works.
He founded Dixon Landing Music—a combined recording label, publishing house and management firm—in Los Angeles in 1989 in an effort to continue his grandfather's legacy in promoting the careers of younger artists. Offices have been based in the San Francisco Bay area since his family relocated in 2012. He also assumed responsibilities as chief executive of Hoochie Coochie Music, which oversees his grandfather's extensive songwriting legacy, in 2016 following the death of his grandmother.
Alex was featured in the November/December 2021 issue of ''
Living Blues
''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van Sin ...
'', a magazine focused on blues music, which was originally founded in Chicago.
Recording career
*The Blues Experience with Cash McCall – ''The Vintage Room'' (Dixon Landing Music 2007)
The first release on the Dixon Landing imprint, this collection of
post-War blues featured the voice and guitar of
Cash McCall
''Cash McCall'' is a 1960 American romantic drama film in Technicolor from Warner Bros., produced by Henry Blanke, directed by Joseph Pevney, and starring James Garner and Natalie Wood. The film's screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee and Marion Ha ...
, a blues and soul blues artist who worked frequently with Willie Dixon and was a longtime studio musician for
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...
, Alex on keyboards and harmonica stylings from Steve Bell, the son of Chicago harp stalwart
Carey Bell
Carey Bell Harrington (November 14, 1936 – May 6, 2007) was an American blues musician who played harmonica in the Chicago blues style. Bell played harmonica and bass guitar for other blues musicians from the late 1950s to the early 1970s bef ...
, and other young musicians. The 11 tracks—seven penned by Alex, three by Willie and one by McCall—conveyed the traditional sound established by the elder Dixon.
*The Alex Dixon Band – ''Rising From The Bushes'' (Dixon Landing Music 2009)
A
blues-rock release, this album opens and closes with short spoken-word segments from Willie Dixon. Alex contributes keyboards with vocals handled by soprano Marcy Levy, aka
Marcella Detroit
Marcella Levy (born June 21, 1952), known professionally as Marcy Levy and (later in her career) Marcella Detroit, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She co-wrote the 1977 Eric Clapton hit "Lay Down Sally" and released her debut al ...
, who co-wrote "
Lay Down Sally
"Lay Down Sally" is a song performed by Eric Clapton, and written by Clapton, Marcy Levy, and George Terry. It appeared on his November 1977 album ''Slowhand'', and reached No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.
Background
"Lay Down Sally" i ...
" with
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...
, as well as guitarist Alan Mirikitani, front man of the Los Angeles-based band BB Chung King and the Buddaheads. The lineup also included longtime
Steve Miller Band
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock music, rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles t ...
bassist
Gerald Johnson and percussionists James Gadsen, who previously recorded with
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...
and
Aaron Neville
Aaron Joseph Neville (born January 24, 1941) is a retired American R&B and soul singer. He has had four platinum albums and four Top 10 hits in the United States, including three that reached number one on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. ...
, and Alvino Bennett, a longtime member of
Koko Taylor
Koko Taylor (born Cora Anna Walton, September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009) was an American singer whose style encompassed Chicago blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues and soul blues. Sometimes called "The Queen of the Blues", she was known for ...
& Her Blues Machine.
*Alex Dixon Presents... – ''The Real McCoy Featuring Lewis 'Big Lew' Powell'' (Dixon Landing Music 2020)
Dixon returns to his blues roots for this CD, which features contributions from
Sugar Blue
Sugar Blue (born James Joshua "Jimmie" Whiting, December 16, 1949, Harlem, New York City) is an American blues harmonica player. He is probably best known for playing on the Rolling Stones' single " Miss You", and in partnering Louisiana Red.
T ...
, the Grammy Award-winning harmonica player who was a former member of Willie's Chicago Blues Allstars, and marks the debut as a front man for Lewis "Big Lew" Powell, best known as the percussionist for Chicago vocalist Nellie "Tiger" Travis. A collection of traditional Chicago blues, it includes seven originals penned by Alex and three covers written by his grandfather. The lineup includes Bennett and Bell along with guitarists
Melvin Taylor, Gino Matteo, Rico McFarland and Joey Delgado with Dixon on electric and upright bass and piano with Australian vocalist Whaia and Dixon's daughter, Leila, providing backing vocals.
Awards and honors
On April 28, 2013, both Willie Dixon and Alex Dixon were enshrined as members of the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame. The ceremonies were conducted at
Buddy Guy's nightclub, Legends.
On June 15, 2015, Dixon performed as a headliner at the
Chicago Blues Festival
The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June,
that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the Chicago, Illinois, City of Chicago Department of Cu ...
along with McCall, Sugar Blue and other members of the Dixon family as part of its Willie Dixon Centennial Tribute.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Alex
1975 births
Living people
American blues musicians
Musicians from Chicago
Chicago blues musicians